Fireflies on Gallifrey
by merlintriss
Summary: Just getting a feel for this combination. He's always in such pain, the screams of planets filling his head. He is an orphan, his family and race lost to time and space. And she's just a little bit damaged. River and the Ninth Doctor.


Title-Fireflies on Gallifrey  
Pairing/Character-River Tam, Ninth Doctor  
Rating-T  
Disclaimer-These two characters are both properties of two completely different companies, owned by different people, none of which are affiliated in any way with me. It's incredibly rough and probably not properly spell checked.  
Length-Possibly the beginning of a continuing series.

He was always in such pain. Hidden behind smiling eyes and a manic grin, worlds she would never know burned. His people eradicated from time and space he was an orphan, damaged. He tried to hide it from her, a little slip of a girl he barely knew, but she'd catch glimpses of a beautiful woman whose face continued to change but who was still the same person. She saw worlds implode, choices left in his hands as he moved through time as if he were walking.

His mind was painful to be around too long, except when he was at peace. Then she would see fields with an alien name-Gallifrey. They never talked about it.

He was a tall man, a little broader than her brother and smaller than Jayne. But he was more fearsome than Jayne, even though she would never fear either of them. He was a doctor, like her brother, but not. They were both her Doctor. But Simon would never be in this much pain, not when he was shot, not when he thought he was going to die, not when he was sure she was going to die.

She thought, when they'd first met, that it might be because he was so old. In all her travels aboard Serenity she'd never met someone above the human life expectancy. Her new Doctor, though, was not human.

When they'd first met, it'd been a bad day. She thought he might've been a hallucination the Alliance had planted years ago, or a forgotten memory lifted accidentally from one of her many visitors, replayed like when she was overwhelmed with the now. If Simon weren't busy with Kaylee, giving birth to a girl they would name Sara, he would've tried out a new drug cocktail, would've given her a new tranquilizer for the pain. Especially when he walked in and she felt she had heard the screams of a planet echoing in his head.

"No. They're in such pain. They're all dead. All of them," her voice broke as she wrapped her thin arms around knobby knees, her wispy skirt hiked up high, her feet bare, "All alone. An orphan. All alone."

He'd been shocked, an expression she would later come to realize was odd for him. Stepping completely out of his blue phone box (in her studies at the Academy, she'd learned a thing or two about old Earth) he'd walked over to her, towering over her cowering form before his mind went completely blank.

There was a comforting darkness and then a blank rock next to a gaseous ocean.

"It's beautiful," her big eyes, full of unshed tears had looked next to her where he'd come to rest, his own knees tucked to his chest, his goofy ears sticking out from his head. She couldn't help but laugh. He'd joined in, the texture deep and throaty, though the smile hadn't reached his eyes. He was hurt, but he didn't let her hear.

"Interesting. There shouldn't be human telepaths for another thousand years. Your minds aren't ready for the stress."

"They came and tinkered. Went places they shouldn't have. Two by two..." she'd trailed off, looking at the ceiling.

"Hands of blue, yeah." his big hands rested on his knees, "You're an odd one. But then again, so am I." like he was lost in thought, he looked at the ceiling as well.

"It's been awhile since you've had anyone. Been all alone. Even Susan, they all left. Left you alone in your blue box, the universe's a beautiful place, but you've got no one to show it to. Now that you're broken.."

" 'ey, you keep out of there," his tone was jovial as he pointed at his own head, "lots of things you don't want to see."

"In your head. It's all time, all of it. Not just the ugly bits but the pretty stuff. The shiny bits."

"I could show you planets so beautiful they'd make you cry," he took a glance over, "Well, maybe not you. Maybe I could just make you smile."

She did smile, but not because of that. Sara had just been born and she caught bits of Simon's happiness and pride and Kaylee's relief.

"Yeah. Just like that." he got up, pushing off the wall, stretching his long legs. She could hear Simon as he made his way down the hall, coming towards her, "Come with me." he opened his mind again, but there wasn't pain this time. It was a field and a word, a taste, a feeling she got. Gallifrey.

She took his offered hand and stepped towards the blue box. Simon entered the room just as she was about to exit.

"River?" he stood at the base of the ladder, shock etched on his face as his hand grasped one of the rungs.

"She's a beautiful girl, your Sara." she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear, smiling at him, "Take care of her. I'll be back soon."

And then she was gone.

"You didn't say it," her new Doctor said, leading her inside the ship. At her quizzical expression, he continued, "It's bigger on the inside."

"Oh. She's beautiful," she smiled, trailing her fingers on the struts of the ship, feeling her way around, the metal grating smooth on her still bare feet.


End file.
